HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

As we bring 2021 to a close, we’re hoping everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and will also have a safe, secure and joyous holiday season (Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, New Year’s, etc.)
It’s been a challenging and rewarding year for MVUT. The Covid-19 pandemic continues to ravage our community, impacting all of us in so many hurtful ways. lt’s at times like these that we really need COMMUNITY! MVUT works day-in, day out, to provide that – keeping people in their homes, improving services for tenants and fighting landlord harassment throughout Mount Vernon and all over Westchester County!

A major part of our work all year long has been fighting the pandemic through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). MVUT has successfully submitted hundreds of applications directly for tenants who had either lost income or had additional expenses as a result of Covid 19. In numerous other cases we assisted others in uploading documents or referring tenants to make their own applications directly. We helped countless tenants in filing “Hardship” applications to the court to prevent their court cases from proceeding until after the moratorium ends on Januarv 15.2022. All of these efforts have allowed tenants to maintain some level of normalcy during these terrible times.

We’re enclosing a copy of a November 21, 202 1 Sunday Journal News article “Despite Backlog, N.Y. Ends $2.4 Billion Relief Program” which highlights some of the great work MVUT is doing. The heading is somewhat misleading. We’re still processing ERAP applications as additional New York State funding has been made available and we’re hopeful significant new federal dollars will be as well. Please contact the office if you, or someone you know may need ERAP assistance.

Have you made your tax-free contribution to MVUT?

MVUT Annual Meeting

At our Annual Meeting held on Tuesday October 12, we re-elected two (2) sitting board members to three (3) year terms: Deborah Carter of 300 Gramatan Avenue, and David Locklear of 60 East First Street. A third open seat was not filled and an additional seat became open as a result of Vivian Spady (of New Rochelle) having been hired as a staff person to work on the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). We thus have two (2) vacancies on our board. We’d like to have at least one (1) if not both of those vacancies filled by tenants from the southside as our major state funding source, the Neighborhood Preservation Program (NPP) requires that a third of our board be residents of the southside, our “Neighborhood” according to the NPP.

As always, we reviewed the many accomplishments of the past year and previewed the upcoming challenges of the New Year. Key on both points is the pandemic and our ERAP efforts.

Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP)

MVUT cosponsored two (2) workshops on various housing issues with a primary focus on IERAP: Thursday October 7th at St. Mary’s Church on South High Street in Spanish, and Thursday October 21″1 at Greater Centennial Church on South 8th Avenue in English. The City of Mt. Vernon co-sponsored both events along with Legal Services of the Hudson Valley (LSHV) , Hudson Valley Justice Center (HVJC), Catholic Charities and the Human Rights Commission of Westchester. The workshops were primarily attended via ZOOM and included tremendous amounts of important and vital tenants’ rights information. We mentioned above that Vivian Spady has come onto the MVUT staff to work on processing ERAP applications. As of October 22 MVUT had already completed three hundred twenty-seven (327) ERAP applications, uploaded documents for an additional two hundred twenty-five (225) clients, and referred a further six hundred sixty-five (665) tenants to the ERAP e-mail and/or Hotline!

We are enclosing a two (2) sided flyer on ERAP with instructions on how to apply and specific contact info on MVUT, LSHV and Catholic Charities. Please share it with your neighbors.

$$ For MVUT

As always we ask that you support MVUT financially to enable us to build on our successes. Especially at this time, around the end of the calendar year, many people are looking to make tax-deductible donations. Maybe you can make such a contribution? Or maybe you know someone who can ? A parent? An aunt or uncle? A friend? A friend of a friend? Any “person of means” could be looking to make a year-end contribution. MVUT is a 501(c)(3) organization and donations from any person are fully tax-deductible under the Internal Revenue Service (lRS) Code! Please put an)’one who may be in a position to make such a contribution in touch with us. We could really use it!!!

We’re enclosing an October 27,2021, Journal News Article on the City of Newburgh, New York, passing a “good cause” eviction law. MVUT is working in coalition with various other organizations on this issue, both locally and statewide, and similarly for a “Right To Counsel” ordinance both county-wide and state-wide. More in an upcoming mailing.

SUPPORT TENANTS’ RIGHTS !
SUPPORT AFFORDABLE HOUSING ! !
SUPPORT MVUT !!!

Download MVUT ERAP Application

Newburgh Passes Good Cause Eviction Law